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A Holocene Bat Fauna from the Eifel Mountains, Germany

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A Holocene Bat Fauna from the Eifel Mountains, Germany Vespertilio 16: 159–164, 2012 ISSN 1213-6123 A Holocene bat fauna from the Eifel Mountains, Germany Rainer HUTTERER, Christian MONTERMANN & Melanie WEIGT Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, D–53113 Bonn, Germany; [email protected] Abstract. The analysis of a Pleistocene-Holocene faunal assemblage from a cave sediment in the Eifel Mountains (Western Germany) yielded cranial remains of 2,632 bats (MNI). Seventeen species are re- presented, most of which occur in the region today. More than 88% are Myotis bechsteinii, M. nattereri, and M. mystacinus. The cranial dimensions of M. bechsteinii are larger than in extant populations and approach those of M. b. intermedius Rybář, 1978. A comparison with AMS dated samples from the Holo- cene of Poland (Stanik & Woloszyn 2011) suggests the age of this bat assemblage to be approximately 6000 BP, corresponding to the onset of the Neolithic culture in Central Europe. Cave fauna, Holocene, Myotis bechsteinii, size variation, Chiroptera Introduction Accumulations of bones in caves are a valuable source of information on the past occurrence of bats and other small vertebrates. Suitable cave sites, however, are not common and found mostly in mountain areas with a higher density of karstic fissures and other natural caves. Larger Holocene bat assemblages from such cave sites have been described from Austria (Bauer 1987, Rabeder 1973), Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia (Schaefer 1973, 1974, Horáček 1976, Obuch 1995), France (Mein 1975), Poland (Woloszyn 1970, Piksa & Woloszyn 2001) and Spain (Sevilla 1987). Data on Holocene bat faunas from Germany are still scarce, and almost absent from the Eifel Mts., a mid-elevation mountain range in W Germany (Hutterer & Koenigswald 1993). Here we document, for the first time, a new fossil site from this region with a rich vertebrate fauna domi- nated by bats. The aim of this study is to describe this bat assemblage and to discuss the possible age of the deposit. Material and Methods The osteological material used for this report is deposited in collections of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Ale- xander Koenig in Bonn (= ZFMK). It was collected by members of the “Höhlen und Karstforschungsgruppe Nordrhein” (Laumanns 1996) in a karstic cave called “Höhle am Kalkwerk” (= cave at limestone quarry, further referred to as: Eifel cave) from May to July 1985. The cave was discovered by W. Geucke in 1984. It is located in the Eifel Mountains in western Germany near Nettersheim-Roderath (50° 30’ N, 06° 43’ E), at 450 m a.s.l. The cave opens with a 0.5 m wide entrance into 27 m of karstic fissures. About 3.7 m below the surface, a 15 cm thick layer of soil enriched with bones was found and partly excavated. A larger amount of cave sediment was screen-washed, sorted and tentatively identified in the laboratory of Jochen Niethammer (1935–1998) at the Zoological Institute Bonn in 1985. Another 6 kg of cave sediments were screen-washed in the Museum Koenig in 2002, and all specimens were then sorted, counted and identified. Counts were expressed by the minimum number of individuals (= MNI). The identification of fragments was performed by com- parison with extant skulls in the ZFMK collections, and by identification keys such as Jenrich et al. (2012). 159 The bones of Myotis bechsteinii were used for preliminary dating of the fossil assemblage. Based on the results of Rybář (1976) and Stanik & Woloszyn (2011), several cranial measurements were taken and compared with data taken from the literature. Due to the fragmented condition of the material we focused on dental characters, resulting in the following dimensions used for comparison: (1) Crown length of P4 to M3, (2) Crown length of M1 to M3, (3) Crown length of p4 to m3, (4) Crown length of m1 to m3, (5) Height of mandible at p4, (6) Height of mandible at m3, (7) Upper toothrow length (crown length), (8) Lower toothrow length (crown length), (9) Coronoid height, (10) Interorbital width, and (11) Total palatal length. Measurements were taken with a Wild Heerbrugg M5 binocular (object lens 12×) and an attached tenfold measuring eyepiece. Results General fauna Surface findings on the cave floor and screening of the sediment yielded remains of 41 species of vertebrates: 5 soricomorphs, 17 bats, 12 rodents, 2 lagomorphs, 2 artiodactyls, 1 horse, and 2 carnivores. In addition, remains of birds, amphibians, reptiles, and gastropods were found. A more detailed documentation of the complete fauna will be published elsewhere. Single bones of the reindeer, Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758), steppe pika, Ochotona pu- silla (Pallas, 1769), and Lemming (Dicrostonyx sp.) demonstrate that some of the fragments were deposited as early as in the Pleistocene. However, the bulk of the small mammal fauna from the cave sediment originated from more recent and climatically more favourable periods, as shown by the presence of dormice [Eliomys quercinus (Linnaeus, 1766), Glis glis (Linnaeus, 1766)], shrews (Crocidura sp.), and bats. Chiroptera We identified 5090 cranial elements (mandibles and maxillaries) of bats, representing 17 species and a minimum number of specimens of 2,632 (Table 1). The Bechstein’s bat Myotis bechsteinii (Kuhl, 1817) is the most numerous species in the thanatocenosis with 57.6% (MNI), followed by the Natterer’s bat M. nattereri (Kuhl, 1817) (18.3%), and whiskered bat M. mystacinus (Kuhl, Table 1. List of species and numbers of bats identified in the bone assemblage species mandible left mandible right maxilla MNI MNI % Barbastella barbastellus 3 10 1 10 0.38 Eptesicus nilssonii 2 2 0 2 0.08 Eptesicus serotinus 0 1 0 1 0.04 Myotis bechsteinii 1516 980 348 1516 57.60 Myotis brandtii 34 38 3 38 1.44 Myotis dasycneme 13 13 1 13 0.49 Myotis daubentonii 108 91 37 108 4.10 Myotis emarginatus 14 9 13 14 0.53 Myotis myotis 3 4 2 4 0.15 Myotis mystacinus 332 298 32 332 12.61 Myotis nattereri 335 482 240 482 18.31 Nyctalus leisleri 1 0 0 1 0.04 Plecotus auritus 3 4 97 97 3.69 Plecotus austriacus 0 0 3 3 0.11 Pipistrellus nathusii 2 6 2 6 0.23 Pipistrellus cf. pipistrellus 1 4 0 4 0.15 Rhinolophus hipposideros 1 1 0 1 0.05 total 2368 1943 779 2632 100.00 160 Table 2. Selected cranial and dental measurements of Myotis bechsteinii fragments from the Eifel cave dimension N mean range SD crown length of P4–M3 181 4.87 4.42–5.08 0.11 crown length of M1–M3 181 3.95 3.50–4.17 0.10 crown length of p4–m3 252 5.30 5.30–5.58 0.12 crown length of m1–m3 253 4.36 4.08–4.67 0.11 height of mandible at p4 253 1.46 1.17–1.67 0.08 height of mandible at m3 253 1.56 1.25–1.75 0.08 upper toothrow length (crown length) 6 8.40 8.00–8.58 0.21 lower toothrow length (crown length) 56 8.71 8.25–9.08 0.16 coronoid height 37 4.03 3.75–4.17 0.12 interorbital width 11 4.23 4.08–4.33 0.08 total palatal length 1 8.58 – – 1817) (12.6%). The frequency of the remaining 15 species is less than 4%, in many cases less than 1%. The serotine Eptesicus serotinus (Schreber, 1774), lesser noctule Nyctalus leisleri (Kuhl, 1817), and lesser horseshoe bat Rhinolophus hipposideros (Borkhausen, 1797) are represented by a single specimen only (Table 1). Age estimation of Myotis bechsteinii A total of 1484 single values of 11 different dimensions were taken (Table 2). Most results were obtained for mandibular characters. The skulls (except one) were strongly fragmented and allowed only few measurements. These were compared with available data in the literature (Rybář 1976, Stanik & Woloszyn 2011). The mean value of crown length of P4 to M3 of the Eifel cave population is comparable to that of M. b. intermedius (4.87 mm vs. 4.85 mm), as published by Rybář (1976). Crown length of M1 to M3 (3.95 mm vs. 3.95 mm), p4 to m3 (5.30 mm vs. 5.30 mm) and m1 to m3 (4.36 mm Table 3. Comparison of skull and tooth measurements (means and range, in mm) of undated and dated Ho- locene populations of Myotis bechsteinii dimension M. bechsteinii M. b. intermedius M. bechsteinii (Eifel, this study) (Rybář 1976) (Stanik & Woloszyn 2011) crown length of P4–M3 4.87 (4.42–5.08) 4.85 (4.70–5.10) – crown length of M1–M3 3.95 (3.50–4.17) 3.95 (3.80–4.10) – crown length of p4–m3 5.30 (5.00–5.58) 5.30 (5.15–5.45) – crown length of m1–m3 4.36 (4.08–4.67) 4.40 (4.25–4.45) – height of mandible at p4 1.46 (1.17–1.67) – 1.46 (1.35–1.55): 5990 BP height of mandible at m3 1.56 (1.25–1.75) – 1.58 (1.43–1.78): 6725 BP upper toothrow length (crown length) 8.40 (8.00–8.58) – – lower toothrow length (crown length) 8.71 (8.25–9.08) – – coronoid height 4.03 (3.75–4.17) – 4.01 (3.80–4.34): 3905 BP 4.01 (3.42–4.34): 5225 BP 4.04 (3.78–4.17): 5990 BP 4.00 (3.73–4.25): 6725 BP interorbital width 4.23 (4.08–4.33) 4.35 (4.15–4.60) – total palatal length 8.58 – 8.52 (7.68–8.99): 4925 BP 8.89 (7.98–9.92): 5990 BP 161 vs.
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